From the Scottish Database section we can see how much carbon dioxide
is emitted in Scotland as a whole, however we are just going to focus
on carbon dioxide emissions due to electricity use in Scottish homes.

The average household that consumes 3,880kWh per year on electricity pays
£263.84 annually on electricity  this figure does not include
standing charges, and other costs.

Every house that uses electricity
is also responsible for carbon dioxide emissions. The Home Electricity
Consumption Guide indicates how much CO2 is typically emitted due to electricity
use in the home.

Average emissions from home
electricity use = 1693.62 kg of CO2 annually,

the equivalent weight of
a large family car.

Using the average emission
figures above we can calculate contribution to Scotlands CO2 from
housing.

2, 350, 000 (households)
x 1693.62 (kg) = 3,980,007,000 kg

Housing in Scotland accounts for 3,980,007,000 kg of CO2 emissions. This
is equal to 5.5% of Scottish total annual emissions (72,300,000,000 kg).

Electricity use in the home
was responsible for around 6% of the Scotlands carbon dioxide emissions
in 2002. With the number of households in Scotland rising from 1.8 
2.3 million over the last 20 years it is important that careful consideration
is given to how electricity use in home can be reduced.

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Carbon dioxide (CO2)
is the main gas produced by human activities, which is implicated in global
warming. The UK Government has already undertaken to reduce CO2
levels by 2010 to 20% below what they were in 1990. For the main greenhouse
gases together it is committed to a 12.5% reduction against 1990 levels
by 2010.

In the big picture, saving
energy helps reduce CO2 emissions and cuts greenhouse
gases, which in turn reduces global warming. Renewable energy is seen
as an ideal way to produce 'clean' electricity that does not produce any
CO2 during electricity generation.

Renewable technologies generate
electricity without burning fossils fuels and therefore help prevent the
emissions of harmful CO2. In the same ways nuclear power generation does
not emit CO2 to the atmosphere during power generation, although many
people are concerned about the health and safety implications of nuclear
power (www.british-energy.co.uk).

As Renewable energies due
not produce CO2 whilst the are generating electricity there environmental
benefits be calculated. Renewable technologies tend to be intermittent
and cannot supply base load as they do not provide a constant power output.
Renewable energy is more suited to satisfying intermediate and peak loads
and therefore any energy generated offsets electricity production that
would have otherwise been generated by fossil fuels. When calculating
the benefits of renewable energy in terms of carbon dioxide emissions
comparisons are often made with respect to fossil fuel power stations.

In Scotland most Renewable
electricity offsets electricity that would have otherwise been produced
from coal power stations - example Longannet Power Station, Fife.

From the EMAS report average figures demonstrate that the production of

1 kWh of electricity from
a coal-powered fire station produces on 966g of carbon dioxide. Other
figures are shown below for coal, oil and gas power stations.

For calculations in the website the figure of 0.97kg will be used to demonstrate
carbon dioxide emission that can be offset by renewable energy.

Traditional Power Station Emissions

The following information
compares different fossil fuel stations and their levels of emissions
per kWh.

Standby electricity needlessly
places extra demand on Scotland's electricity generation production and
is also responsible for needlessly polluting the environment - if electricity
is produced at fossil fuel stations, carbon dioxide is also being emitted.
Click on Standby Electricity if you want to remind yourself of how standby
electricity is costing you unnecessary power.

To summarise Standby Electricity,
the average household could save somewhere in the region of £10
- £80 by switching appliances off rather than leaving them on standby.
The average saving is estimated at £25, although a typical three
bedroom flat could save about £37 through these changes.

Switching appliances off correctly can benefit you as an individual due
to financial savings, however these saving may appear relatively low for
one house. Consider the effects that these measures would have across
the whole of Scotland (average £25 per house) = 25 x 2,350,000 =
£58.75 million.

More importantly from an
environmental point of view is the large amount of CO2 that is also being
produced unnecessarily. 1 kWh of electricity produced from a coal powered
station emits 0.97kg of CO2 to the atmosphere.

It is perhaps unreasonable
to expect everyone to turn off every appliance in their house, as this
can often be a nuisance when they are switched back on and clocks have
to be reset, radio station have to be retuned, so we are going to consider
a variety of possibilities and see how they effect the amount of CO2 emitted
to the atmosphere.

The Standby Electricity
section considered the financial effects of standby electricity use. This
section is going to consider the environmental effects take on a national
scale. A variety of scenarios are illustrated to help demonstrate what
could happen if people began to switch off appliances properly. In this
way we can see how CO2 emissions can be reduced by bringing down the amount
of standby electricity use.

Our first consideration
is the most common appliance in houses, the TV and video set. These appliances
are rarely switched off correctly and usually just put on standby using
the remote control. We will investigate if switching these appliances
off after use can save carbon dioxide emissions.

i) Never Off (on standby
365 days year)

TV and Video on standby all year round (365 days) and never switched off
properly.

Would use on average 102.49
kWh / year.

i) Remember there are 2,350,000
households in Scotland. So across Scotland this would be wasting approximately.

102.49 kWh x 2,350,000 houses
= 240,851,500 kWh/year

ii) As mentioned earlier
45% of Scotland's electricity is produced from fossil fuels - so figure
needs to be adjusted to reflect this.

0.45 x 240,851,500 kWh /
year = 108,383,175 kWh/year

iii) For fossil fuels every
kWh of electricity produces 0.97 kg of CO2

Perhaps more energy intensive,
than the living room example, is the fact that there are an increasing
amount of appliances left on standby modes in the kitchen. Most of these
appliances have clocks that function when the appliance is not working,
and as a result the appliances are left on all the time.

These will also have an
effect on the carbon dioxide emissions in Scotland

ii) Never Off (on standby 365 days year)

Kitchen appliances on standby all year round (365 days) and never switched
off properly.

Would use on average 226.43
kWh / year.

i) So across Scotland this would be wasting approximately.

226.43 kWh x 2,350,000 houses
= 532,110,500 kWh/year

ii) Assuming 45% could be
generated from fossil fuels.

0.45 x 532,110,500 kWh /
year = 239,449,725 kWh/year

iii) For fossil fuels every
kWh of electricity produces 0.97 kg of CO2

0.97kg x 239,449,725 kWh/year
= 232,266,233 kg/CO2

Annual CO2 emissions due
to leaving a selection of kitchen appliances on standby.

In their bedrooms, most
people have a radio alarm clock, a portable stereo and perhaps a TV, whilst
many more have computers and associated equipment - speakers, scanners,
external disk drives. For this example we will just consider the three
most common appliances radio alarm clock, a portable stereo and TV standby.
We will however assume that there is an average of two bedrooms per house
to help establish the effects on the carbon dioxide emissions in Scotland

iii) Never Off (on standby
365 days year)

Bedroom appliances on standby
all year round (365 days) and never switched off properly.

Would use on average 75.34
kWh / year.

Assume 2 bedrooms per household.

i) So across Scotland this
would be wasting approximately.

(75.34 x 2) kWh x 2,350,000
houses = 354,098,000 kWh/year

ii) Assuming 45% could be
generated from fossil fuels.

0.45 x 354,098,000 kWh /
year = 159,344,100 kWh/year

iii) For fossil fuels every
kWh of electricity produces 0.97 kg of CO2

Whilst on standby these
appliances use the equivalent electricity of 525 GWh a year. This is 1.6%
of Scotland's total yearly electricity production. Switching these appliances
'off' correctly would prevent the emission of 510,078,161 kg/CO2, which
is 0.7% of Scottish Carbon Dioxide Emissions Total

From the graph you can see
that a 0.7% reduction makes very little difference to Scotland's CO2 emissions
total. N.B the y-axis of the graph does not begin at zero so that you
can see a separation of the two lines rather than one on top of the other
- which is how 0.7% looks on a full graph as the difference is so small.

Total of household consumption

Think about the consequences of your acts. In little acts like this, we
are avoiding tonnes of CO2 emissions.top